Bibliography of digital activism and civic engagement in Indonesia

Indonesia’s media development has been strongly shaped by the post-1998 democratic transition, a period characterised by freedom of expression and a rapid commercialisation of the media sector (Lim 2011). A recent study found a vibrant social media scene with Facebook and Twitter as the dominant platforms (Indonesia has the world’s second largest number of Facebook users, with over 35 million) as well as extremely affordable mobile phones (Nugroho et al 2012). A survey of 258 activist groups revealed a differentiated use of both old and new digital media. Thus, Facebook was used mostly for promotion, Twitter for recruitment and campaigning, and ‘traditional’ mailing lists for consultation (Nugroho et al 2012).

Hadiz, V. (2003). Reorganizing political power in Indonesia: A reconsideration of so-called ‘democratic transitions’. The Pacific Review, 16(4), 591-611.

Hefner, Robert W. 1999. “Civic Pluralism Denied? The New Media and Jihadi Violence in Indonesia,” in Dale F. Eickelman and Jon W. Anderson (eds) New Media in the Muslim world: The Emerging Public Sphere. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Jurriens, E. 2011 “Radio active”: the creation of media-literate audiences in post-Soeharto Indonesia’. 2011. In: Krishna Sen and David T. Hill (eds), Politics and the media in twenty-first century Indonesia: decade of democracy. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 141-158.

Kloet, J. (2002). Digitisation and its Asian discontents: the Internet, politics and hacking in China and Indonesia. First Monday, 7(9).

Ramli, R. (2012). Youth Political Participation in Asia: Outlooks in Malaysia and Indonesia. Panorama: Insights into Asian and European Affairs is a series of occasional papers published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s “Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia/Singapore”.

Since 1998, Indonesia’s democratization has produced contentious public debates, many of which revolve around issues of gender and sexual morality. Yet such controversies not only often focus on women, but also involve women as participants. This article examines how Muslim women activists in two organizations adapt global discourses to participate in important public sphere debates about pornography and polygamy. Indonesia’s moral debates demonstrate an important way in which global discourses are negotiated in national settings. In the debates, some pious women use discourses of feminism and liberal Islam to argue for women’s equality, while others use Islam to call for greater moral regulation of society. My research demonstrates that global discourses of feminism and Islamic revivalism are mediated through national organizations which shape women’s political activism and channel it in different directions. Women’s political subjectivities are thus shaped through their involvement in national organizations that structure the ways they engage with global discourses. The Indonesian case shows not only that the national should not be conflated with the local, but also demonstrates the significance of national contexts and histories for understanding global processes.

Weiss, M. L. (2011, September). New media, new activism: Trends and trajectories in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. In Draft of a paper prepared for the workshop: Asia’s Civil Spheres: New Media, Urban Public Space, Social Movements. Singapore: Asia Research Institute.